#bs 2x05

[goatbeard-goatbeard]

so Aziraphale says “I know, but I have a suggestion” right before Crowley escorts the humans out of the ball. then seems a bit disappointed when Crowley says “I’ve got this”

ever since the season came out, I’ve been wondering what his idea was, but couldn’t think of what it could be. was he thinking of the ritual circle? was he thinking of his halo? but then why was he trying to interrupt Crowley?

just saw the scene again

he was thinking of hiding the bookshop

[hourcat]

"people can say what they like about you, but you're a good man. more people should say that. and someone should be willing to defend it."

[dimpleskinard]

Flint + hands + s o f t

[garashir]

the last few minutes of the episode where it is revealed Flint was in love with Thomas and it shows all their little moments together:

[jaredackles]

[dijetedrago]

[rackhamrogue]

[lukearnold]

black sails ladies meme // favorite scene/moment(s)

[sorenkingsley]

[moon-yean]

james/thomas appreciation week

∟ day three: favourite kiss

[starbuck]

so much consumption and preparation in this episode... adore this. 

[flyingfish1]

On Thomas possibly still being alive... I’m seeing some people calling it bad writing and I don’t see it that way at all. The only way it could possibly be bad writing, as far as I can see, is if the writers were just handing Flint his “happily ever after” on a silver platter without it being connected in any way to any of the struggle he’s been through for the past three and a half seasons. And that’s completely the opposite of what they’re doing, imo. It’s intrinsically connected to that struggle. So much so that, as totally gobsmacked as I am that this is even happening omggg, at the very same time it feels like it had to happen because how could anything else have happened??? It had to come down to this because so much of the whole show, and all of Flint’s journey, have been getting us ready for it.

The conflict is baked into the premise. Silver already said it, didn’t he? “Wouldn’t you trade it all to have Thomas Hamilton back again?” It seems obvious that he would—Thomas’ loss is what set him on this path in the first place—but… would he? Could he?

Eleanor couldn’t, as she talks says later in the episode. Max was literally down on her knees, begging Eleanor to run away with her, and Eleanor wanted to say yes—was picturing herself saying yes—and instead she chose Nassau. She chose her lifelong struggle to make Nassau a better place. (I rewatched that episode a couple of months ago, watched Flint watching Max and Eleanor, and I had the vague sense that Flint himself might have to make a similar choice one day. As if he’s standing there, unknowingly watching his own future. Little did I know… )

Max couldn’t do it either, when it came down to a choice between Nassau and a life with Anne. After everything she sacrificed for her own place in Nassau, Max couldn’t bring herself to jeopardize it for anything, even that.

And the entire existence of his “Captain Flint” persona is built around Nassau and his fight for it. The war is the reason “Captain Flint” currently exists and “James McGraw” doesn’t. Just like Eleanor and Max, he’s put every part of himself into this struggle. Into this island. “That fucking island,” says Anne. “Makes you do shit you don’t wanna do. How is it we haven’t figured that out by now? What the hell are we doing back here, Jack?” Who is “Captain Flint” without this war? For the last ten years—or is it closer to eleven, now?—it’s been his whole world. Could he separate himself from it even if he desperately wanted to?

With Thomas quote unquote “safely” dead, Flint didn’t have to think about it. Much. Except, for instance, when Miranda brought it up in 1x07: “What does it matter what happened then if we have no life now? There is no life here. There is no joy here. There is no love here… If he were here, he’d agree with me!” (If he were here… ahahahaha omg. This was always the plan. I can’t.) And the very idea that Thomas could disapprove of his actions sent Flint off to pretty much drink himself into a miserable, self-doubting stupor. And yet he didn’t stop. He didn’t give up. He didn’t change course. Of course he didn’t, because no matter what Miranda said, Thomas wasn’t really there in that moment, and Flint didn’t have to truly address it.

So of course the next logical step is to (it looks like???) bring Thomas back into play as a living human being with his own motivations and desires and agency. Talk about upping the stakes.

It’s like Jack and Blackbeard discussing what Vane would have thought of their conflict with Eleanor. It’s one thing to make the claim that you’re carrying out an action in the name of a dead man. It’s another thing altogether to grapple with that person’s own perspective on the matter. “There are moments… I wonder if I will ever be able to truly rest again until I know that Eleanor Guthrie has paid for what she took from me. And then there are other moments when I wonder if it would actually please him to see her dead… I wonder if he were here now, watching us battle with the choice to kill her in his name or defeat the governor and perhaps therein win the war we all together started, if he might call us fools.”

Flint is thinking about similar things with regards to Thomas: “I think if he knew how close we were to the victory he gave his life to achieve, he wouldn’t want me to [abandon the war].” “That wasn’t really what I asked, was it?” responds Silver. Because if Thomas is alive, that’s not going to be the issue anymore. The issue is going to be so much more complicated than that.

Trading “one irreplaceable thing for another,” Silver says…

Thomas was irreplaceable for James McGraw. But the war, the fight for Nassau, is irreplaceable for Captain Flint. So who is he going to be, in the end? Flint or McGraw?

In 2x05, Miranda says, “There is no other way [than peace] to achieve what you want to achieve… once you're willing to tell the truth about your intentions here. You say you fight for the sake of Nassau, for the sake of your men, for the sake of Thomas and his memory. But the truth of the matter is, it isn't for any of those things… I think you’re fighting for the sake of fighting. Because it's the only state in which you can function, the only way to keep that voice in your head from driving you mad. The one telling you to be ashamed of yourself for having loved him.”

She needs him to acknowledge what she views as his true motivations: and of course it all comes down to shame. That’s one of the biggest themes of the show and it always has been. And again, with Thomas “safely” dead, Flint doesn’t have to deal with it—can’t deal with it—is prevented from dealing with it—in any other way than just continuing the fight. Continuing on in the same holding pattern he’s been stuck in for the last decade.

When it comes down to it, as far as I can see, the writers could have let things stand or they could have forced him to deal with the issue. The only ways to force him to deal with the issue were (a) by having him fall in love with another man or (b) by bringing Thomas back into the story. I had been assuming that (a) might happen because I thought (b) was too unlikely. Shows what I know. But the trouble is that there aren’t really any other options that can address Flint’s issues as well as Thomas himself would. In the “Are you going to choose to live happily ever after with this guy or are you going to continue dashing yourself on the rocks of your unwinnable war with the entire British Empire over this island?” stakes, Thomas himself is the ultimate test case, really… it needs to be somebody we know Flint has a real chance of living a peaceful life with in the long term, should he allow himself that.

“You were told that it was shameful,” says Miranda, “and part of you believed it. Thomas was my husband. I loved him and he loved me. But what he shared with you? It was entirely something else. It's time you allowed yourself to accept that.”

Accepting that means that he’d have no need for the constant violence that he’s been using to drown out the voices of his own inner demons. Can he do that? Can he put aside his own inner shame over the idea of loving Thomas and being with him? Can he put aside his war, and go live a peaceful life somewhere? Can he let “Captain Flint,” and Captain Flint’s war, go?

I don’t know. As I say, similar choices have been difficult for other characters.

For his sake I just really, really, really hope he can.

[solraneth-archive]

You know a film/show really affected you when you hear its soundtrack and emotions hit you so hard you can’t function for a moment

[dimpleskinard]

There is no governor in Nassau. I understand the dispute arose over a bribe. Money that governor Thompson felt he was owed by a particular pirate captain. That captain recruited others. They demanded the governor leave the island at once. Thompson refused, at which point a dozen armed men broke into his home, dragged his wife and 9-year-old son out into the street and slit their throats.

[ellelans]

Elle, I don’t know how anyone who’s ever watched Black Sails can stop thinking about it even for one second because honestly I doubt that I’ve given anything else any thought since I started watching it lmao. 😂

Kri you have no idea how right you are! Its been 5 years since the show ended and guess who stopped thinking about Black Sails?Noone.Ever.I am gonna be Elrond for a second and be all like ''I was there Gandalf'' lol-but thats true,I spent YEARS in BS fandom I was there since 2x05 aired and changed everything and you simply do not get over this show.You do not get over Flint or Silver or any other character.A whole bunch of my mutuals who were there in pirate madness can easily confirm that-we are all still here,still completely in love with the masterpiece Steinberg and Levine created and ruined our entire lives! There was never a show like Black Sails which is both a blessing a curse and I am afraid there never will be ❤️

[jaredackles]